History Recap / ParksAndRecreationS04E21

* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: How Ron, Tom and Donna get the van rental business owner to give them the shuttles. Donna gets back at the guy by backing [[ThePreciousPreciousCar her Mercedes]] into his car hard enough to damage it, framing him for rear ending her car. With Ron and Tom as witnesses, they threaten to call the police on him unless he gives them the vans. He begrudgingly agrees to.

* EroticDream: Andy admits to having had one about Donna.
* ExactWords: The van owner ''did'' rear end Donna, and Ron and Tom are both willing to testify for it. What they're leaving out is that Donna drove forward and then backed up to make the damage much worse.

* IronicEcho: Ron states that from where he comes from, a man's word is sacred. When he threatens to lie to the police how the van rental business owner rear-ended Donna's car, Ron says he's willing to bend this rule right here because the other guy was being an asshole.
* JerkAss: The owner of the van rental store refuses to donate the shuttles to Leslie's campaign due to being bribed by the Newports.

* StepfordSmiler: Chris has become one due the string of romantic failures he's gone through over the past year.

-->(all said with a big smile) "If I keep my body moving and my mind occupied at all times, I will avoid falling into a bottomless pit of despair."

* TheBusCameBack: Sewage Joe was put on a bus after Ben fired him for texting pictures of his penis. [[spoiler:Here he turns out to be the mysterious assailant who threw a pie that almost hits Leslie. He was aiming at Ben to get revenge for firing him and succeeds at the end of the episode.]]

* PieInTheFace: Jerry and [[spoiler:Ben]] get one courtesy of [[spoiler:Sewage Joe]].

The campaign is almost over, and Leslie is only two points behind Bobby Newport. Leslie's team decide to spend the last day touring Pawnee in a bus to campaign.

When they learn that the vans rented to take seniors to the polls are no longer available, Ron, Donna, and Tom investigate. They learn that the van company manager, Bill, received more money from the Newport campaign to not rent the vans out to Leslie's team. The more they try to negotiate with him, the higher he raises his price. They leave, and when they get in the car, they angrily discuss the situation. Behind Donna's car is Bill's car, and he honks at them to move so he can get out. Donna refuses, and he rams her car. She proceeds to reverse her car into his, and the three of them accuse Bill of hitting her car as he has no witnesses to confirm his side of the story. Cornered, he agrees to rent them the vans.

Leslie's bus tour goes well until she stops to talk to reporters. When they ask for her comment on the death of Nick Newport, Sr., Leslie doesn't know what to say since this is news to her. Ben suggests that Leslie visit bobby Newport privately to express her condolences, but when they arrive in the bus at the Newport mansion, they interrupt a press conference given by Jennifer Barkley, who uses the opportunity to blast Leslie for her insensitivity.

Leslie and her team try to do damage control. Leslie speaks with Bobby, telling him a story about her and her mother. Meanwhile, Jennifer approaches Chris and suggests they have sex, to which he agrees.

Bobby speaks to reporters and tells Leslie's story, but instead inserts himself and his father into the story. He then calls Leslie up and tells the reporters that she is a kind person and they should vote for her.

Andy figures out that "Sewage Joe" was the one who threw the pie at Ben. He confronts Joe, who has another pie that he successfully throws at Ben.

Thanks to her strong performance in the debate, Leslie is only two points behind Bobby Newport in the City Council race. Leslie and her staff board a campaign bus to go around Pawnee and campaign hard in the final stretch, with a depressed Chris asking to do the busy work to distract himself.

The vans the department rented to chauffeur the elderly Leslie voters to the polls are suddenly no longer available, so Leslie sends Tom, Ron, and Donna to the rental company to investigate.

Andy, acting as Leslie's bodyguard in his Burt Macklin persona, is on high alert through the bus tour after someone tried to throw a pie at Leslie at a previous rally that hit Jerry instead.

The bus tour goes smoothly, but when Leslie answers a reporter's question about Nick Newport (Bobby's father) by accusing him of buying the election and making other disparaging comments, the reporter reveals that Nick has died. Bobby's campaign manager Jennifer Barkley jumps on the opportunity and portrays Leslie as someone who only cares about politics, not the memory of Pawnee's leading benefactor.

Meanwhile, Tom, Ron, and Donna discover that the Newport campaign had paid off the rental company manager, Bill, to not rent the vans to Leslie's campaign. After their attempts to sway Bill fail, they decide to block his car with Donna's beloved Mercedes. When Bill rams his car into it, she backs into him, with Tom and Ron threatening to tell the police it was all Bill's fault unless he gives them the vans.

Ben decides Leslie should personally express her condolences to Bobby to salvage some positive press, but when the bus pulls up to the Newport estate, it interrupts a memorial service for Nick, further hurting Leslie's image. Leslie manages to speak with Bobby in private, who reveals he only ran for office to get his father's approval, which Leslie relates to by telling a story about trying to win her mother's approval. Bobby is grateful for Leslie's sympathy and gives a speech to reporters (stealing Leslie's story), but tells them about Leslie's kindness and asks voters who are against him to vote for her. A frustrated Jennifer – already worried that she won't get paid with Nick dying – believes Bobby's endorsement of Leslie will win her the election.

While hanging around the Newport mansion, April tries to comfort Chris by telling him that he shouldn't be lonely because they are his friends, but it does not work. Jennifer then finds Chris and convinces him to have sex with her.

Andy eventually solves the pie case: it was meant for Ben, not Leslie, and it was thrown by Sewage Joe, whom Ben had fired. Andy catches Joe attempting another pie throw, but he forgets to actually stop him and Ben is hit in the face.

With the election only a few days away, Leslie takes her friends on a campaign bus tour to do some last minute campaigning. Leslie learns that the company from whom she rented vans for taking senior citizens to the polls has reneged on the deal, so she sends Ron, Tom, and Donna to negotiate with the company owner.

Chris, in order to keep his depression at bay, volunteers to do the busy work necessary.

Meanwhile, Andy investigates a pie-throwing incident that happened previously. The pie seemed to be aimed at Leslie but hit Jerry instead.

During the tour, Leslie learns that Bobby Newport's father has died. In a show of good faith, she takes the bus to Bobby's home to express her condolences; however, Jennifer Barkley is holding a press conference at the time Leslie's bus pulls up, and Jennifer accuses Leslie of insensitivity.

* TheBusCameBack Sewage Joe was put on a bus after Ben fired him for texting pictures of his penis. [[spoiler:Here he turns out to be the mysterious assailant who threw a pie that almost hits Leslie. He was aiming at Ben to get revenge for firing him and succeeds at the end of the episode.]]

* JerkAss: The owner of the van rental store.

* StepfordSmiler: Chris.

* TheBusCameBack Sewage Joe was put on a bus after Ben fired him for texting pictures of his penis. [[spoiler: Here he turns out to be the mysterious assailant who threw a pie that almost hits Leslie. He was aiming at Ben to get revenge and succeeds at the end of the episode.]]
* FreudianTrio: While trying to figure out what to do about the Nick Newport crisis, Leslie, Ben, and Ann take on the respective roles of TheKirk, TheSpock, and TheMcCoy.